© UnknownSun Dog, or parhelion
Yesterday, a few minutes after 7pm, Nature surprised the citizens of Santiago del Estero once again. This time "three suns" caught everyone's attention and raised doubts about the strange event that took place when the Sun made itself visible on the province's capital. As soon as the phenomenon was recorded, hundreds of witnesses used the social networks to upload pictures and find out about the origin of this event, making it obvious that this spectacle had not been missed by many.
The "three suns" were clearly visible in the sky, in the Western areas of the capital. This strange phenomenon barely lasted a few minutes until the Sun hid behind the horizon.
This is known as a parhelion (Sun Dog) and is produced by the effect of the sun's rays passing through ice crystal fragments in the atmosphere. Sometimes a bright reddish spot can be seen on both sides of the Sun .
In order for a full halo to be formed it is necessary for the ice crystals in the atmosphere to be spread out in all possible directions. However, that does not always occur. When the atmosphere is extremely quiet, the crystals tend to fall horizontally.
When the Sun is at a low altitude, these crystals happen to be in the right position to refract the Sun's light toward its sides, producing two sources of light next to it.
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There's a famous Schubert song about this phenomenon, part of his Winterreise cycle (#23): [Link]
"23. Die Nebensonnen
Drei Sonnen sah ich am Himmel steh'n,
Hab' lang und fest sie angeseh'n;
Und sie auch standen da so stier,
Als könnten sie nicht weg von mir.
Ach, meine Sonnen seid ihr nicht!
Schaut Andren doch ins Angesicht!
Ja, neulich hatt' ich auch wohl drei;
Nun sind hinab die besten zwei.
Ging nur die dritt' erst hinterdrein!
Im Dunkeln wird mir wohler sein.
Robert Holl, bass-baritone
Naum Grubert, piano